In Morro Bay, off the coast of California, authorities grant permission for the construction of a 2GW offshore wind farm.
A successful auction
In Morro Bay, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) selects Golden State Wind to create the park. This wind farm includes management rights for 32,500 hectares of sea. Golden State Wind is a joint venture between Ocean Winds (OW) and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments).
The auction included five areas off California. The awarded area is the first sale of a floating offshore wind lease in the United States. The sale was under the jurisdiction of BOEM.
Ocean Winds is already developing 4GW of offshore projects in the northeastern United States. The company has Mayflower Wind off the New England coast. In addition, it also manages Bluepoint Wind off the coast of New York and New Jersey.
An experienced company
Bautista Rodríguez, CEO of Ocean Winds, says:
“As a pioneer in offshore floating wind and as a company that believes in its ability to generate clean energy and create local opportunities around the world, Ocean Winds is very proud of the award of this new project in the first U.S. offshore floating wind concession auction. We are committed to standing with the country and California in achieving their clean energy goals, while building a new national market that creates jobs and is vibrant for the local economy.”
Ocean Winds has over 10 years of experience in floating wind energy. The company markets Windfloat Atlantic, the world’s first fully operational floating wind farm.
In Morro Bay, Golden State Wind’s concession will generate 2GW of wind power. Thus, it will be able to supply the equivalent of 900,000 homes. California’s ambition is 5GW of floating wind by 2030.
This brings the U.S. closer to its goal of 15GW of floating wind turbines by 2035. In addition, Ocean Wind already has a significant portfolio of floating projects in Europe and South Korea. Its technology aims to conquer California.
